1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a device and method for dynamic reconfiguration of robot components, and more particularly, to a device and method for dynamic reconfiguration of a robot on which multiple boards are loaded or a robot component on which a single board operating in a networking environment is loaded.
2. Description of the Related Art
A robot gradually substitutes more regions of human works. However, a robot is generally designed to perform a specific work. In recent, robots for performing various kinds of housework such as dish-washing, laundry, cooking and cleaning are being developed, and a plurality of computers are generally loaded on a robot to perform various works. This is because a plurality of sensors and actuators are installed at the robot and various kinds of software should be set to control the sensors and the actuators.
Each computer is called a single board computer (SBC), and it basically has the same configuration as a PC but has a minimized size to be loaded on the robot.
A robot requires a set of software functions in order to perform service. For example, in order to serve a cup of drink, there are required a vocalization recognizer (for recognizing a command of a user), a dialog processor (for finding a kind of drink desired by the user), a text-voice converting module (for transferring a voice guidance to the user), a navigator (for moving to the user or a kitchen), and an arm manipulator (for gripping a cup). This means that the robot should execute software functions simultaneously and inevitably suffers from resource contention.
In the present robot technology, hardware, software, algorithm or the like for operating a robot are configured as components or modules. If they are configured as components, costs required for the development of robots are reduced due to the easier development, enhanced application and better recycling, which allows general users to use robots more easily.
Due to such technical improvements, general users having no relevant knowledge about hardware of a robot may download and freely utilize developed components and make a scenario for allowing his robot to perform various tasks.
However, since a robot system has a limited resource (CPU, memory capacity or the like), if it is not suitable to configure components, there may occur a scarcity of resources while operating a robot according to components or tasks. In this case, the robot may not perform the given task properly, and so it is required to provide a method for efficiently using limited resources.